Little Red's Riding

Marked and Mated?

Chapter Eleven

"Goddess, Dahlia, you are infuriating." She had stopped and climbed to the top of a hill, quite a ways off the path, so that she could watch the sunrise, when she heard his voice. The dawn was still a while off. The sky had just begun to lighten to a lovely periwinkle and along the edge of horizon there were signs of a glowing shade of coral that promised stormy weather later in the day.

"Red sky at night, maiden's delight. Red sky in morning maidens take warning." After all she was still a maiden. Technically.

"Why would you come into this forest at night by yourself? Are you trying to get killed?" She continued to ignore him as she stared towards the east, her legs stretched out on her red velvet cloak which she had spread out to keep her undergarments dry.

She was wearing one of her shortest skirts again, another flouncy red satin thing that her mother and sister disapproved of, with her long white stockings and her tall black boots. She'd chosen another white cotton top with a black corset laced over it, one that made her ample breasts look fantastic, and she had kept the entire outfit close to what she was wearing when she had first met him in the forest so that he would be certain to recognize her if he saw her from far away.

"I'm going to see my grandmother. You upset her the last time I was with her. And why does it matter to you. Since you don't seem to care anymore." Dahlia shrugged and lay back on her cloak, staring up at the fading stars.

"That isn't true Dahlia." he replied in an irritated tone, running a hand over his tired green eyes. He was irritated with everything now. Irritated with her for coming into the forest alone and risking her life, and angry with himself for staying away so long that she'd felt the need to.

He had tried to stay away, trying to convince himself that she could be happy with someone else, living a human life in the village. After all her mother had fled the forest the first chance that she was given. What if the mate bond wasn't strong enough to keep her there and after she was mated and marked she fled too?

He would be destroyed, completely and utterly..

Or worse, what if, as a human, she couldn't survive life in the pack and she died. He'd spent the early hours of the morning, paralyzed in fear the night after that fear nearly struck him down at two am. Would her body be able to carry and birth his children? Werepups were large and hearty. Goddess, what if she died in childbirth? It was rare with She-Wolves but it happened with humans not infrequently and they're babies were quite a bit smaller.

"Then why did you disappear? I have half a mind to give Archer the answer that he's been waiting for." She sat up as she said the words and turned her gaze on him expectantly. She had no idea what Oliver had told him of that day when he had been sent to watch her from the forest.

"No." he growled the word, using his Alpha Tone, but she didn't flinch or even look away. Most humans were terrified or at the very least were naturally inclined to move away from Silas when he was near them, much less when he used that tone of voice. His huge, muscular form was intimidating, especially when he was in the sort of mood that he was in in that moment. But Dahlia simply stared back at him, her eyes narrowing. She was clearly irritated.

"Why, Alpha?" he had sat down right next to her when he arrived, and now she leaned closer to him so that their lips were only inches apart. He could smell the sweet scent of strawberries and cream that drove him out of his mind whenever she was near. "Why can't someone else have me. To marry. To fuck. To have a dozen babies with. If you've decided you don't want me. Why does it matter what happens to me?" She bit her lower lip slightly as she stared into his eyes.

Silas was about to say something, he really believed that he was, but instead he brought his mouth crashing down against her plump, willing red lips, his tongue desperately seeking entrance to her mouth, while one hand tangled in her thick, dark hair and the other gripped her waist tightly.